The Streets of Bellentine
by Miss Summerson
Summary: Mulder and Scully join forces with the Eighth Doctor to assist in finding a dangerous weapon's manufacturer on the steampunk planet of Bellentine. The Doctor has stayed out of the time war so far, but how long can he avoid a struggle his entire race is involved in?
1. Chapter 1

The car pulled off the gravel road onto a path through the trees that was no more than two tire tracks among the underbrush. The headlight beams penetrated into the blackness, occasionally reflecting off eyes that vanished just as quickly as they appeared. The car bottomed out in a pothole, sending the driver's head slamming into the roof.

"You're crazy, Mulder, going out here like this in the dead of night." It was his own thought, but somehow the voice in his head sounded strangely like Agent Scully's. He might be crazy, but it was a man crazier still that was luring Mulder out here.

Another pothole brought Moulder's head in contact with the car roof again, threatening to give him a concussion if he continued down this road for much longer. He rubbed his hand over his dark hair and eased his foot off the accelerator; maybe he should turn back. Maybe this guy was really a lunatic. But if that was the case, what was the chest in the back seat of Moulder's car, made of some metal unknown to this planet, and why did he believe this man could explain what it was, and where Agent Scully had vanished to.

As the car slowed to a halt, something caught in the far reaches of the headlights. A blue police box.

The first time Agent Fox Mulder had seen that police box, he barely gave it a second thought. He and Scully had pulled up to a three day old crime scene that had been written off as an accidental fire. After a witness stepped forward, however, and a little more exploration was made into the rubble, the case was handed over to Mulder and Scully as an x-file. There it sat across the street, beside a dumpster. It looked out of place, but his mind was focused on other things.

Moulder held up the crime scene tape for Scully to duck under, and then followed her into the old warehouse. The floor was littered with charred roof beams, except for an area that had been cleared away from a blackened metal box and the chalk outline of a body.

"So, have you had a chance to look at the corpse yet?" Mulder asked as they picked the way towards the clearing.

"Not yet, but the more I see here, the more curious I'm getting about it." Scully knelt beside the outline and dragged a finger through the ash around it. "So it was an explosion that started the fire?"

"Not exactly. What the witness described was a noiseless, red flash that shattered all windows in a one block radius, and then ignited a fire in this building only."

"And who was this witness?"

"That would be me."

The two FBI agents turned at the voice. A man stepped through the door from outside, dressed in a green striped shirt with the cuffs rolled up, and faded jeans. His curly, light brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and he walked with a confident ease over to where Mulder and Scully were standing.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said with a soft British accent, extending a hand out.

"I'm Agent Mulder," Mulder replied, shaking the man's hand, "And this is my partner, Agent Scully. We're with the-"

"FBI, yes I know. I think you'll find that you're ill prepared for this matter though," the Doctor said, after shaking Scully's hand.

"There isn't much we haven't seen, Doctor..." Scully paused for him to finish her sentence.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor answered with a slight smile. He took step around the chest, surveying it with a furrowed brow. "What a shame," he murmured, then crouched and reached out a hand.

"Please sir, I have to ask you not to touch it," Scully said quickly. The Doctor looked up at her sharply for a moment, then nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'm forgetting myself. She certainly was a remarkable woman, never would give up on something, even if it...killed her." The Doctor shook his head sadly.

"You knew this woman, Doctor?" Moulder inquired, resting a hand on his hip.

"Yes."

"What were you doing here that night?" Scully's eyes narrowed.

"I was trying to stop her."

"Yet you were unharmed by the fire?"

"When I saw there was no way to change her mind, I made sure no one else would be harmed by her foolhardy decision. I don't think she expected the outcome to go like this though."

"What was she trying to do?" Mulder asked.

"Open the box."

Mulder and Scully exchanged skeptical looks.

The Doctor stood off to the side as Mulder and Scully finished looking around the interior. As they walked to the door together, Scully said, "I'm anxious to get to the morgue and examine this woman's body. How about you Mulder, are you ready to head back?"

"I think I'd like to look around some more, but you can go ahead. I'll catch a taxi."

"Suit yourself." Scully walked over to the car and the two men watched as she drove off.

"She's certainly going to have an interesting examination." The Doctor commented.

"Why do you say that?"

"Has she ever done an autopsy on a Time Lord before?"

"A what?"

"The anatomy isn't that different at first glance, except for the two hearts."

Mulder turned wide eyed to the Doctor. "What are you talking about?"

"That woman who died in there," the Doctor pointed inside the warehouse, "She was called the Rani, and she was of the race of Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey. The reason I know this, is because I'm a Time Lord also...why am I saying all this? You don't believe me."

Moulder put a hand out as the Doctor turned to leave. "No, keep talking."

"You don't think I'm daft."

"Finish your story, then let me decide."

"All right," the shadow of a smile played around his lips as the Doctor replied slowly. "The Rani brought that chest in there from a distant galaxy."

"Why did she bring it to earth?"

Mulder's question was only answered by an unsettling silence from the Doctor, so Mulder tried a different question.

"How did she get it here? The report says the chest is immovable."

The Doctor perked up. "Oh, it can be moved, if one has the has the right knowledge."

"And, you have this knowledge?"

"I do. I'll give it to you, and let you take the chest where you do your testing. And when you don't find anything, as you won't, bring the box to this location," the Doctor handed Mulder a slip of paper, "And I'll tell you what I know of it."

As soon as the Doctor left, Mulder hurried back into the warehouse. He crouched beside the box, positioning his fingers on opposite sides as instructed. After a moment, there was a click and the box levitated a few inches off the ground. He fell back in surprise, and then scrambled away further as the box began to spin; kicking up the surrounding dust and ash into a whirling cloud around it. Mulder shielded his eyes, his whole body tense as he waited for what it would do next.

What was it doing, anyway? Had he just armed it to explode? Maybe the Doctor was working in cahoots with this Rani woman, and sending Mulder to finish the job would assure there would be no witnesses.

The dust began to settle as the box slowed it's spinning and remained floating in the air. It had shrunk to half it's original size and was now motionless.

Mulder got to his feet, brushing the ash from his clothes. There was a layer of grey film over all of him, and when he ran his hands over his face, they came back filthy. Just great.

He took a tentative step towards the box and took hold of it. He lifted it higher at arms length, with such ease the box seemed to have no weight at all. Letting out a slow breath, he lowered the box back down and then stepped back to figure out what to do next.

Scully adjusted her rubber gloves and hit the tape recorder button on the table beside her.

"Victim is female, age unknown. Body sustained major damage from fire, and-" a sound in the hall broke her concentration. She looked over her shoulder toward the door, and after the noise swelled to cacophony of mechanical grinding and squealing, then faded off, footsteps came down the hall towards her.

"Agent Scully, wasn't it?" The man said, closing the door behind himself. It was the man from the crime scene, but gone were the jeans and ponytail. He was now dressed in a long, dark green coat and boots that laced up to his knees. The outfit had an antiquated air about it, which was even more the impression when the man pulled out a pocket watch from the front pocket of his vest.

"I should have given you more time. You might have had more questions for me about the body, but I can see you've hardly started."

"Well, I do have one question for you, Doctor. How did you get in here?"

The Doctor just smiled, and then stepped up to the table where the charred body lay. Then his expression was exchanged for one of deep sorrow.

"Another soul lost to the war," he murmured.

"Excuse me?"

The Doctor looked up and met Scully's gaze. "Oh, nothing. I'm here for you, to lend a hand, as it were."

"So you're a medical doctor?"

"No, but I believe I can be of assistance in your investigation, and maybe you can help in mine."

Scully tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, studying this strange man. It was her first inclination to trust him, but when had she ever based a decision on feelings alone? There was much more to him then he was saying.

"Well, I guess there wouldn't be any harm in you staying for the autopsy, as long as you keep out of the way."

"Of course." The Doctor clasped his hands behind his back and stepped away from the table.

With a frustrated sigh, Scully realized that she forgot to pause the tape recorder, and it had captured their entire conversation. Oh well, nothing could be done about it now.

As Scully went about the first steps of the examination, she could see the Doctor out of the corner of her eye, walking about the room.

It was almost amusing to the Doctor to see the equipment in the lap. So many advances had brought humans to this point in technology, yet they still knew so little. The ponderous computer monitor on the desk to the far wall blipped a message- white text on a background of blue. Even within the next decade, science would jump beyond that into flat screens and computer processors that could fit in the palm of one's hand.

A quick intake of breath turned him on his heels to see what Agent Scully had found.

"The victim appears to have two hearts."

"Rather classic tell of a Time Lord," the Doctor said, coming up behind her.

Skully frowned over her shoulder at him. "What is a Time Lord?"

"I've already briefly explained to your partner, Agent Mulder, but I can see you might need a little more explanation to believe me. It'd be better to wait until you've finished your task."

"You aren't just avoiding my question?"

"Oh no, I'll answer all the questions I can, just not yet."


	2. Chapter 2

Mulder eased his car into park and shut off the engine. With the illumination of the headlights gone, it was the first time he noticed how bright the full moon was, and the dim outline of the police box stood eerily to the side.

When he had returned to his office with the metal box, he spent hours trying to find similar cases, but came up with nothing. Then he tried to find Scully, only to discover that she wasn't in the exam room, but no one had seen her leave. He tried calling her home phone with no answer, and then backtracked to the warehouse. There was still no sign of her. But maybe the Doctor would know something that would help either of these mysteries.

He grabbed a flashlight from the glove box, then climbed out of the car to retrieve the metal box from the backseat.

"Hello?" he called out, knocking on the door of the strange blue police box. Was this insane or what? But this is where the Doctor said he would be waiting.

The door swung inward so quickly, Mulder almost tumbled in. He recovered his balance, meeting the eyes of the Doctor, who was changed into different attire from earlier.

"Well, I thought you would have turned up rather sooner than this, but it's still good to see you, Agent Mulder. Your partner has been telling me quite the tales about adventures you two have had together."

Mulder blinked, speechless at the sight before him. This was no dinky little box; it was cavernous compared to his expectations. In the center was a round counsel covered in screens and buttons and levers, and leaning against that with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face, was Dana Scully. That alone made his head swim.

"What in the-"

"Come in! You've wasted enough time already with your poking about. We need to get going."

"But I was looking for her!" Mulder directed a shaking finger at Scully, still trying to wrap his brain around what was happening.

"Don't look so scared Mulder, it's everything you've ever dreamed of." Scully came striding over with her hands on her hips. "Alien technology makes it bigger on the inside. And, it travels through time. We paid a little visit to Marie Curie so he could prove it to me."

The Doctor gave a laugh. "You should have heard the questions Agent Scully pummeled her with to make sure she was really her. And compared to her response when she first entered the TARDIS, I'd say you're taking this quite a bit better. But back to the point-"

"Time travel?" Mulder said, eyes wide.

"No, the point that we should be leaving now. Thank you for bringing the box along. I was fairly certain it would allow you to mobilize it, but it had never been in contact with human DNA before, and I'm babbling, aren't I? So sorry. You can take a seat over there, both of you, and once I get us on our way I shall do my best to explain things as thoroughly as I can."

Mulder sank down into a chair against the railing surrounding the counsel. His senses were overloading with the new sights and sounds, and he still couldn't believe how relaxed Scully was over it all.

"This is incredible!" Mulder said under his breath, and then grabbed onto his seat as the TARDIS jerked to life.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder at the pair of humans, now bickering over why Scully had went off with the Doctor without telling Mulder. The Doctor sighed, and then focused his attention back to the counsel. It was a good idea to bring both of them along, wasn't it? He couldn't search the planet of Bellentine alone, and from their files, they sounded like just to two to join him on his investigation. At least they seemed to be adjusting to their strange surroundings well enough, he noted, as he continued listening to their banter.

"Where are we going, Doctor?" Scully asked.

"You'll see soon enough."

"How far are we traveling? And are we traveling in time too, or-"

"Sorry to disappoint, Mr. Mulder, but we shall be traveling in space alone. If I could go back a ways and handle some things differently, I would, but crossing my own time stream would be much too dangerous."

The Doctor could speculate that different actions might have caused different end results, but that was most likely wishful thinking. When the Rani had her mind made up, there was nothing that could change it.

The lights from the counsel in front of him blurred and dimmed, replaced with a grey, hazy street, and a familiar face.

"Well, well, well. What odd luck meeting you on a planet like this."

The Doctor turned towards the sound a woman's icy voice.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I must tell you, you won't be able to hide from the time war for much longer." She let out a chilling laugh. "Even out here on the far reaches of the universe."

Her cold eyes sent shivers up his spine, but the Doctor put on a smile and gave the richly dressed woman a slight bow. Her long brown hair was piled in curls atop her head, and with the style of her clothes, she could almost be mistaken for a Victorian lady. But the metallic sheen of her dress, the heavy black and silver eye makeup and purple lipstick, gave, as with the rest of their surroundings, a very unearthly air.

"We meet again, my lady Rani. What does a Time Lady such as yourself find of interest on the planet Bellentine?"

The Rani smirked, but took the Doctor's proffered arm and walked with him down the street.

Fog clouded the air around them, leaving only the foreground visible. Figures moved in and out among them, and shadows of buildings towered into the haze. Everything was eerily silent, expect for a low rumble beneath their feet.

"What could there be here of interest for me, you ask? How little you know me, Doctor," she tsked, "Tis not only you who keeps a "pet" planet. Bellentine quite interests me, and has many commodities I have use for."

At this the Doctor's smile faded, but he kept his thoughts to himself. If the Rani considered a planet "useful", it's inhabitants were in danger. He avoided that subject for the time being though.

"And you must not know me. I am not hiding from the Time War, but I do refuse to be a part of-"

"Save your excuses," the Rani snapped. "You are a coward, Doctor, admit it, and you have been running from things your entire life."

"What are you doing here?" Maybe it would be better to broach this subject now.

The Rani just gave a sly smile and pulled him towards a door that loomed to their right.

"How about I tell you over a cup of blince? They say it's quite similar to your "tea" on earth."

"Your treat?" the Doctor said with false joviality.

"Why not?" the Rani chuckled, and they entered the dimly lit shop together.

The Doctor didn't much care for the look of the other shop patrons, but took a seat at a tall corner table. He told the automaton waiter that he would have whatever the lady was having, and she gave him an unsettling smile.

The drinks delivered to their table were nearly boiling, and steaming like little caldrons. The liquid was a dark greyish color, and the Doctor's first tentative sip wasn't all bad, but it left a strong metallic aftertaste in his mouth.

"What do you think?" the Rani asked.

"Mmm, it's certainly not tea, but it isn't dreadful I suppose."

"It can be an acquired taste, like much on Bellentine. A taste I've been finding quite delightful as of late."

"You are not referring to the tea anymore."

"Catching up quick, aren't you Doctor?"

"So then, tell me what you're up to. What have you got up your sleeve this time?" The Doctor was tiring of her games.

"It would be foolish of me to reveal my plot to you, because of your nasty habit of ruining things. But there is a part you can play, if you are interested. And if you're not, well, let's just say you will have to consider more then yourself in your decision."

"I don't like the sound of that," the Doctor said, adjusting his coat. Even though he was interested in what the Rani was doing, maybe this was the one time he should stay out of it.

"Come now, Doctor, despite your cowardice, you are still a gentleman. Won't you give a lady some assistance?"

"So, Doctor, what kind of help do you think we'll be?" Mulder asked, coming up beside him at the counsel of the TARDIS.

"I'm not quite sure yet," the Doctor replied, giving Mulder a smile, "But I hear you two are good at solving strange cases."

"I don't really know if you can say we're good at solving them, but we're certainly good at getting mixed up in them," Scully said. She raised her eyebrows at Mulder, who only shrugged in response.

"The culture of Bellentine shouldn't be too shocking for you to enter. In fact, it's quite comparable to the Victorian era on earth, with differences of course. But you'll be with me, and I shall do my best to explain as we go."

The TARDIS came to a shuddering stop, and the Doctor strode over to the door.

"Ready for an adventure?"

Mulder and Scully exchanged eye contact, then looked back at the Doctor.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Mulder said.

Mulder found the fog outside almost smothering. He could barely see ten feet ahead of him, and the Doctor was walking off at a quick pace. Scully was staying at his heels, leaving Mulder to jog a few steps before catching up.

"How do you even know which way to go in this stuff?"

The Doctor smiled at him. "I don't. I'm just hoping we will run into someone who can tell us where to go."

"So you do have a specific place in mind?" Scully asked.

"Yes. The last time I was here, there was a tea shop, or whatever the blasted stuff was called, and I think some of the patrons there could point me to the location I am looking for. They looked the sort to know about that kind of thing."

"You still haven't told us what it is you want us to help you find," Mulder began, but then a bolt of electricity shot up his leg, freezing him in place. Oblivious to his plight, Scully and the Doctor continued walking, and then disappeared into the haze. Mulder tried to call to them, but his voice caught in his throat, and suddenly the metal grate beneath him opened up, sending him plummeting down into darkness.

"We're looking for a weapons manufacturer, and from what I know of him, it won't be an easy hunt. But if I can find him, I can find out what the Rani wanted with this planet, and hopefully prevent any of these devices from joining the arsenals of the Time War."

"The Time War? Are you fighting in this war, Doctor?" Scully said.

"I suppose I have to be now, although it is with the deepest regret that I say that."

"You're being awful quiet Mulder, something wrong?" Scully looked over her shoulder and found that her partner was no longer behind them.


End file.
